Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945. Russia and some former Soviet countries celebrate on 9 May, marking the end of World War II in Europe in the Eastern Front. Several countries observe public holidays on the day each year, also called Victory Over Fascism Day, Liberation Day or Victory Day. In the UK it is often abbreviated to VE Day, or V-E Day in the US, a term which existed as early as September 1944, in anticipation of victory.

The end of all combat actions was specified as 23:01 Central European Time, which was already 9 May in eastern Europe, and thus several former Soviet bloc countries including Russia and Belarus, as well as some former Yugoslav countries like Serbia, celebrate on 9 May.



The Provisional Government of National Unity (Polish: Tymczasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej - TRJN) was a puppet government formed by the decree of the State National Council (Krajowa Rada Narodowa - KRN) on 28 June 1945. It was created as a coalition between the Polish Workers' Party (Polska Partia Robotnicza - PPR; Soviet-backed) and politicians from close political sphere of Stanisław Mikołajczyk, the former prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile based in London.